First Pitch
• The Central Missouri Mules head west to Hays, Kansas to take on Fort Hays State in a three-game series to open MIAA play.
• The Mules and Tigers will open the series on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Larks Park in Hays with Saturday and Sunday's games taking place at 1 p.m.
• This season, each MIAA series will consist of three nine-inning games.
• Central Missouri was picked to finish third in the MIAA's Preseason Coaches' poll.
• The Mules were 30-22 a season ago and finished in third place in the MIAA with a 23-13 conference mark. It was the 22nd consecutive season with at least 30 wins for UCM.

The Series
• The Mules hold a 30-12 lead in the all-time series with Fort Hays State.
• The teams split a four-game series in Hays last season.
• FHSU won the first two games of the series 9-1 and 9-8 before UCM salvaged a split with 5-2 and 7-5 wins in the final two games.

Fort Hays State
• Fort Hays State enters the series at 6-5 overall after going 2-2 last weekend against Colorado School of Mines.
• The Tigers won the first two games of the series scoring a combined 23 runs. They dropped games three and four scoring seven runs.
• Fort Hays State was picked to finish ninth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll after going 19-28 overall last season and 16-20 (9th) in MIAA play.
• Sixth-year head coach Steve Johnson has compiled a 122-131 record at FHSU.
• The Tigers are hitting .339 as a team with 21 doubles, 12 home runs and 79 RBI through 11 games.
• Connor Ross is hitting .468 with a pair of home runs and a team-leading 18 runs driven in.
• Austin Unrein bats .449 with five doubles, two home runs and 16 RBI.
• Joe Mapes is hitting .419 and leads the team with four home runs. He's driven in 12 runs.
• Five FHSU players are hitting .395 or better.
• The pitching staff has a 7.71 ERA in 11 games and 91.0 innings pitched. The staff has walked 44 and struck out 62 during that span. Opponents are hitting .327 against FHSU.
• Giles Fox is 1-0 with a 3.24 ERA and two saves in five relief appearances. He has struck out 14 in 8.1 innings pitched.
• Justin Hersch is 0-1 with a 6.35 earned run average in three starts. He's allowed 23 hits and 16 runs in 11.1 innings. Opponents are batting .411 against him.
• D.J. Carr is 1-1 with a 7.41 ERA in three starts. He has given up 25 hits and 18 runs while striking out 13 in 17.0 innings pitched.
• The Tigers have a .953 team fielding percentage. They've committed 20 errors and have turned 11 double plays on the year.

The Mules
• Central Missouri enters the weekend at 1-5 overall after going 1-2 in Magnolia, Arkansas two weeks ago.
• The Mules are hitting .191 as a team with five doubles, one triple, three home runs and 18 RBI.
• Blake Wilfong is batting .400 with a home run and two RBI in three games played.
• Jake Alexander is hitting .318 with two doubles, a home run and a team-best four RBI.
• The pitching staff has a 3.44 team ERA through six games and 52.1 innings pitched. The staff has 72 strikeouts and 25 walks during that span.
• Carlos D'Armas is 0-1 with a 0.93 ERA in two starts and 9.2 innings pitched. He is tied for the team lead with 16 strikeouts and has walked just three. Opponents are hitting .206 against him.
• Tyler House is 1-0 with a 2.38 ERA in his two starts. He has allowed eight hits and three runs over 11.1 innings pitched. He's fanned 13 and opponents are hitting just .205 against him.
• Ethan Westphal is tied with D'Armas with 16 punchouts over 11.1 innings pitched.
• The UCM defense has committed 10 errors and has a .954 fielding percentage. The Mules have turned eight double plays on the year.

Worth Noting
• The Mules hit just 7-for-39 (.179) with runners on base during the three games in Arkansas. They were 6-for-23 (.261) with runners in scoring position.
• The Mules split each of their first four MIAA series last season. UCM then won the next four series before dropping the final series of the regular season.

Last time out
Feb. 13, 2016 - (MAGNOLIA, Ark.) -- The Mules baseball team was held to two hits in the ballgame, a single in the first and an RBI single in the ninth, as they fell to Central Oklahoma 5-1 on Saturday afteroon. The Mules are now 1-5 on the season.
    Bennett Oliver's RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning was the only run UCM would get against three Broncho (2-0) pitchers.
    Central Oklahoma got on the board in the third inning on Hunter Schellhardt's RBI single. An unearned run in the fourth made it 2-0 in favor of the Bronchos and they tacked on three more runs on three hits and two Mule errors in the sixth to lead 5-0.
    Carlos D'Armas (0-1) took the loss for Central Missouri after giving up two runs, one earned, on three hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out six.
    Greg Hyde (1-0) earned the win for UCO after tossing six innings of one-hit ball.

Mules picked to finish third in MIAA Preseason Poll
• Central Missouri was picked to finish third in the MIAA according to the 14 league coaches in the preseason poll released last Friday. The Mules received two of 14 first place votes and tallied 141 points to come in third. Missouri Southern received 11 first place votes and totaled 166 points to claim the top spot. Emporia State got the other first place vote and 152  points to come in second. Lindenwood (122 points) and Missouri Western (120 points) rounded out the top five.
• UCM is scheduled to open MIAA play Feb. 26-28 at Fort Hays State for a three-game series.

Mules in MIAA openers
• The Mules are 0-1 MIAA openers under Kyle Crookes and 0-1 in MIAA road openers. UCM fell 9-1 to Fort Hays State last year in Hays to open the conference slate.
• The Mules are 6-4 in their last 10 MIAA openers.

Mules in non-conference action
• The Mules are 1-5 in non-conference action this season after going 1-2 at the Southern Arkansas Invitational.
• The Mules were 7-9 in non-conference games last season.

Mules in MIAA play
• The Mules finished 23-13 in MIAA play last season and finished in third place in the conference's regular season standings.

The Mules at home
• Central Missouri was 15-5 at home during the 2015 season.
• The Mules are 755-149-1 (.835) in 905 games played in this, their 41st season playing home games at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.

Mules on the road
• The Mules are 0-1 on the road this season after dropping a tough 4-3 contest at Southern Arkansas two weeks ago.
• The Mules were 12-13 on the road last season.

Mules in neutral site games
• The Mules are 1-4 in neutral site games after going 1-1 against Oklahoma Christian and Central Oklahoma at the Southern Arkansas Invitational in Magnolia, Arkansas.
• UCM was 3-4 in neutral site games last season.

MIAA schedule change for 2016
• This season every MIAA team will play the other 13 league schools in a three-game series. All three games of the series will be nine-inning games.
• UCM will play 11 weekend series and two mid-week conference series. The mid-week series will consist of a single game midweek in three different weeks. One of the series will be two home games and one road game, while the other will be two road and one home.

UCM during the Crookes era
• Kyle Crookes has a 31-27 (.534) record in his second season as head coach at Central Missouri.
• The Mules went 30-22 during Crookes' first season as head coach. Ten Mules earned All-MIAA honors, including First Team honors for outfielder Trevor Jones. Jones went on to earn Second Team All-Region honors as well.
• The Mules were 71-29 in Crookes' two seasons as an assistant coach and captured the 2014 MIAA Regular Season Championship. The Mules garnered five First Team All-MIAA selections and three All-America honors during his two years as an assistant.
• Crookes compiled a 292-164 overall record in eight seasons as the head coach at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College before taking over as an assistant coach at UCM.

Mules Baseball History
• The 2016 season marks the 61st in the storied history of Mules Baseball. During that span the Mules have compiled a 1,790-713-9 (.714) record in 2,512 games played.
• The Mules have won 40 or more games 17 times, including 14 straight seasons from 1999-2012, and have won 50 or more games nine times.
• The Mules have won or shared 24 MIAA championships, captured 16 regional titles and two national championships.

Mules Baseball by the Numbers
• 27 NCAA Regional Appearances (20 of the last 22 years)
• 24 MIAA Titles (16 of the last 22)
• 20 MIAA Tournament Titles (16 of the last 22)
• 16 Regional Championships
• 15 Regionals as host site
• 13 Top five national finishes
• 4 Third place finishes
• 1 National Runner-Up
• 2 National Championships

Mules Baseball: Winningest Team of the 2000s
• The Central Missouri baseball program has had unprecedented success in the last 25 years and has been even more impressive since the year 2000. The Mules were the winningest team in all divisions of the NCAA by victories (508) and percentage (.814, 508-116) from 2000-09. That success has continued through the 2010s.
• The Mules are 759-202 (.790) since the year 2000. An average of 47 wins per season over the last 16 years.

A Tradition of Excellence in Athletics
• Entering the 2015-16 academic year, Central Missouri had won a combined 205 MIAA regular season conference championships in 14 league sports to lead all schools.
• Last season, UCM captured five MIAA regular season titles, and three MIAA Tournament crowns.
• Since 1983, the tenure of Athletic Director Jerry Hughes, UCM has won or shared 151 MIAA championships, more than any other league school.
• Central Missouri has won eight national championships since 1980 (men's and women's basketball in 1984, baseball in 1994 and 2003, women's bowling in 2003, men's basketball in 2014, and women's indoor and outdoor track & field in 2015) and 10 national championships overall.

A Tradition of Excellence in the Classroom
• Central Missouri had 218 student-athletes named to the 2014-15 MIAA Academic Honor Roll with grade point averages of 3.0 or higher.
• 29 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Scholar Athletes with at least a 3.5 GPA and having earned all-MIAA honors in their respective sport.
• 17 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Academic Excellence Award winners with a 4.0 GPA.
• UCM had six student-athletes earn Academic All-Region awards in their respective sports with three of those earning CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.
• Since the year 2000, UCM is tied for sixth in NCAA-II with 49 Academic All-Americans.

Upcoming
• The Mules will play their home-opener on Friday, March 4 at 2 p.m. when they open a three-game MIAA series against Pittsburg State.
• Friday's game will be the first game on the new artificial playing surface at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
• A pregame field dedication ceremony will take place before Friday's game.